Reconfiguring project management [Video]

A reconfigured approach to project management whether it be humanising a project or increasing the planning phase to avoid the unintended consequences of decision making could help ensure project success.

David Boyle, New Economics Foundation; Andrew Holmes, Silicon Valley Bank and Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez, BNP Paribas Fortis spoke to APM during the annual conference in June. They were joined by Michelle Brownrigg and Jules Howard-Wright from Digital UK on the speaker platform in the Reconfiguring project management stream.

David Boyle stressed how the human element is critically important to delivering projects. He said: Over the last generation we have forgotten that successful projects had human beings at the heart of them.

Project management is key to the execution of an organisations strategy, according to Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez, head of transversal portfolio management at BNP Paribas Fortis. He said: For me the most important issue is the recognition by senior executives of the work we do on a daily basis. This is not fully recognised and it needs to be understood that project managers help companies to achieve their strategies.

Andrew Holmes, business implementation director from Silicon Valley Bank, explains the concept of Blowback and how it improves decision-making. We need to avoid the issue of good or bad decisions and instead sensitise organisations to the potential of the unintended consequences, added Andrew.